1. Field
The present disclosure discloses a novel strain capable of saccharifying and fermenting biomass-derived cellulose and a genetically engineered strain thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, studies on alternative energy are increasing because of the surge of oil prices and the restriction of fossil fuel use due to the obligation of implementing conventions on climate change. In particular, interests in renewable biomass are growing rapidly as energy production from biomass is expected to play an important role.
The processes using biomass include pretreatment, saccharification and fermentation processes. Biofuel is of low price competitiveness because of saccharifying enzymes used in the saccharification process are expensive.
Recently, many researches are focused on the development of an integrated biological process which allows saccharifying and fermenting of biomass at the same time by a single microorganism. For the development of the integrated biological process, a method of genetically engineering a saccharifying enzyme gene into monosaccharide-degrading E. coli or yeast is being studied. However, biofuel production is unsatisfactory because of low saccharification efficiency. For the development of microorganisms optimized for the development of the integrated biological process, improvement of saccharification capability through genetic engineering is necessary together with the securement of microorganisms capable of degrading polysaccharides, in addition to studies using monosaccharide-degrading microorganisms.